No Grey area about it.

It's not being used for commercial purposes. No cdl consideration for driving that vehicle even needed.

 

I believe that Ca. now requires a special RV license if over a certain length, I hope other states pick up on that. Way to many 'non drivers' trying to handle some RV's.

 

For that application, I would consider something slightly smaller like a Series 50, or ISM. More than enough muscle for what you need, better fuel mileage, smaller form factor, and cheaper to come by.

 

Problem is the VIN on the body already doesn't match the chassis as the body came off of a 1 ton PU. I figure if push came to shove I've got both titles so that shouldn't be too bad.

repete - The control tower (read wife) has done a bunch of research and has uncovered countless horror stories (mostly involving California) pertaining to not having all of your ducks in a row and getting red flagged. As we would like to drive this silly thing all around this great nation of ours - we'd like it to be as close to legal as possible. Besides, I'm that guy that if I try anything even a bit outside the letter of the law, I get caught.

Maniac & mndriver - This truck weighs 10K total without the bed on it. My buddy has suggested a Duramax, but if I'm going through all the trouble of a major swap-over - I'd like a bit of overkill in the mix. With the bed 12K and loaded with all my schools Welding equipment (we drove it from Phx to Yuma for a high school welding contest) it was right at 19K and was truly gutless - the only hill on I8 caused us to slow down to 30mph! What is the engine/tranny weight of a series 60 & the 9 speed OD you mentioned? Also, ('nother noob question) are these engines like the old chevy's? Standardized bell housing pattern and any tranny will fit or are there special combinations?

No-worries, what is a s Series 50 or ISM? (remember I'm a noob when it comes to this stuff...) A smaller version of the series 60 I'm guessing...

Thanks again for your information!

 

Series 50 is the 4 cyl version of the series 60 which is a 6 cyl.

 

Like was mentioned, the Series 50 was a 4-cylinder Detroit, popular in busses. I really like the ISM (or M11) from Cummins; 11 liters with a broad range of hp and torque ratings. Great motor but, like the S60, probably more than you really need.

 

Lots of people convert big rigs to rv for those exact reasons. Recommend checking out truckconversions.net and Rvnetwork.com.

There are also other handy type people on those forums that do it themselves.

And they can recommend a dmv office that knows what the hell they are doing. Even in ca.